Red alert! It’s my Star Trek: Discovery – Battle At The Binary Stars Review

*SPOILERS*

Well, here we are after the first flush of rekindling my romance with Trek. Can “Battle At The Binary Stars” manage the ‘tricky second date’? TL;DR version? Yes…and no.

With Burnham’s mutiny halted, Georgiou confines her to the brig and awaits Starfleet reinforcements. When her attempt to communicate peacefully with the Klingons results in the Klingons opening fire without warning, the resultant battle leaves the Shenzhou badly damaged. As the Klingons press their advantage, repeatedly exploiting Starfleet’s peaceful overtures, Georgiou and Burnham put aside their differences to launch a last, desperate counterattack.

The strength and history of the friendship between Captain Georgiou and Lieutenant Commander Burnham was obvious from the previous episode thanks to the chemistry between Michelle Yeoh and Sonequa Martin-Green but this episode opens with a flashback giving us a glimpse of their initial meeting seven years previously as Georgiou reflects on her decision to send Burnham to the brig. There’s something a little bit Jerry Ryan 7 of 9 of Martin-Green’s performance as Burnham’s immediate post-Vulcan persona but as the flashbacks start to flesh out the timelines of these characters, the curse of the prequel starts to come into sharper focus. If Sarek handed Burnham over to Starfleet seven years prior to the start of the series, that would make it the year 2249. One year later, Sarek would so oppose his half-human son Spock joining Starfleet that it would create a rift between them that would last for eighteen years. So far, the underlying theme of “Star Trek: Discovery” is that Sarek has been a far better father to his adopted human daughter than he ever was to either of his sons. I wonder if it’s because of the psychic hotline he apparently has with Burnham that allows communication across light years without technology?

For all its action, “Battle At The Binary Stars” feels both sluggish and rushed. The new Klingon messiah’s hard-on for racial purity brings the series back to Trek’s allegorical social commentary roots with the subtlety of a sledgehammer to the point where they may as well be illuminating their bridge with tiki torches but the actual space battles are disappointingly anaemic. What were the creators thinking with the literal ‘pew pew’ phaser effects? The feeble dashes of light lack any kind of impact, dramatic or, it would appear, destructive yield. I know “Star Trek” isn’t really about the space battles but this continued obsession (carried over from the Kelvinverse movies) that starships should battle light Star Wars’ fighters is really grating. Nicholas Meyer understood that starships would fight like capital ships, hence “The Wrath Of Khan” providing the spacefaring equivalent of two 18th century frigates trading cannon fire. That hand drawn, painstakingly animated sequence is miles better than what “Discovery” shows us here.

There’s not much tactical genius on display here by either side in the battle. The Klingons employ a bizarre crashing tactic for no real reason or gain, apart from T’Kuvma seems to want to prove something that nobody has actually questioned: that he can make his ships invisible. Perhaps he’s forgetting that he proved that in the last episode, or he misread one of his underling’s subtitles. “Star Trek Discovery” needs to step away from the subtitles for the Klingons sharpish; it’s one of the primary reasons this episode feels so sluggish and the stilted, awkward delivery of the language by the actors makes it seem like it’s not their native language, so why bother? There’s another Meyer-esque nod in this episode as Georgiou and Burnham’s transporting over the to the stricken Klingon vessel feels very “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country”, only this time it’s war, not peace, which hangs in the balance.

Character-wise, the show maintains its early promise. Doug Jones’ Saru continues to intrigue, even if he is being unsubtly set up to be the Spock/ Data of the series but because of the decision to focus more on action, the character moments feel too hurried. Burnham’s tactically astute suggestion to the Captain that capturing T’Kuvma (Chris Obi) rather than killing him would have long-term strategic benefits is completely undone when she herself kills him. I think it’s meant to represent a loss of emotional control in response to what’s just happened, but there’s something in the script/ shots/ editing which doesn’t quite sell the moment, undercutting the impact of what’s happened. Emotional inconsistency are tricky to get right in these kind of serialised dramas and without enough history with the characters, it can easily come across as incompetence rather than unfortunate. The episode then races forward further still to Burnham’s court-martial where she’s sentenced to life in prison for her actions and the audience discovers that “Star Trek: Discovery” doesn’t have a two-part premiere, it’s a three-parter and we’re going to have to wait until the 2nd October for the ‘resolution’/ actual beginning of the adventures of the Discovery.

It’s a shame we won’t get to spend more time with Captain Georgiou, although I hope we might still get flashbacks. She seemed like a Captain who would have got along very well with Picard had they not been separated by 80-odd years. Burnham, on the other hand, probably would have been great friends with [later seasons] Janeway.

Being so swept off my feet by the return of Trek, I didn’t comment much on the opening credits or theme last time out, but I’m not overly keen. They’re a little too “Doctor Foster”/ “House MD” for my taste. It’d be nice to see some space in there somewhere, and a couple of beauty passes for old time’s sake and while the theme is pleasant enough, it’ll take a while to grow on me. Right now it feels like it’s trying to please too many masters and the riffs on the classic fanfare feel awkward and inorganic. So, there you go. Praise and petulant cannon pedantry: I guess my inner Trekkie really is back.

star trek discovery s1e02 battle at the binary stars

Season 1 Episode 02

star trek discovery season one
trek score 6


Hi there! If you enjoyed this post, why not sign up to get new posts sent straight to your inbox?

Sign up to receive a weekly digest of The Craggus' latest posts.

We don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more info.

star trek discovery s1e01 the vulcan hello
star trek discovery s1e03 context is for kings
star trek discovery s1e04 the butcher's knife cares not for the lamb's cry
star trek discovery s1e05 choose your pain
star trek discovery s1e06 lethe
star trek discovery s1e07 magic to make the sanest man go mad
star trek discovery s1e08 si vis pacem, para bellum
star trek discovery s1e09 into the forest i go
star trek discovery s1e10 despite yourself
star trek discovery s1e11 the wolf inside
star trek discovery s1e12 vaulting ambition
star trek discovery s1e13 what's past is prologue
star trek discovery s1e14 the war without the war within
star trek discovery s1e15 will you take my hand?
star trek discovery s2e01 brother
star trek discovery s2e02 new eden
star trek discovery s1e03 point of light
star trek discovery s2e04 an obol for charon
star trek discovery s2e05 saints of imperfection
star trek discovery s2e06 the sound of thunder
star trek discovery s2e07 light and shadows
star trek discovery s2e08 if memory serves
star trek discovery s2e09 project daedalus
star trek discovery s2e10 the red angel
star trek discovery s2e11 perpetual infinity
star trek discovery s2e12 through the valley of shadows
star trek discovery s2e13 such sweet sorrow
star trek discovery s2e14 such sweet sorrow part ii
star trek discovery s3e01 that hope is you part 1
star trek discovery s3e02 far from home
star trek discovery s3e03 people of earth
star trek discovery s3e04 forget me not
star trek discovery s3e05 die trying
star trek discovery s3e06 scavengers
star trek discovery s3e07 unification iii
star trek discovery s3e08 the sanctuary
star trek discovery s3e09 terra firma part 1
star trek discovery s3e10 terra firma part 2
star trek discovery s3e11 su'kal
star trek discovery s3e12 there is a tide...
star trek discovery s3e13 that hope is you part 2
logo

Related posts

Kīlauea – The Fire Within (2015) Short Film Review
Toy Story 4 (2019) Review
Dom Hemingway (2013) Review
For Your Eyes Only (1981) Review
Escape Room: Tournament Of Champions (2021) Review
Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes (2024) Review